The Daily Mirror is reporting that Liverpool will make an approach for Fulham manager Roy Hodgson in the next 48 hours. The 62 year old is leading a six man shortlist drawn up by Kenny Dalglish and Christian Purslow and the club’s directors will give them permission to approach Fulham with an offer of compensation so he can become Liverpool’s next manager. Hodgson has a £2.5million compensation clause in his yearly rolling contract which allows him to leave for any top Premier League club, according to the newspaper, and it is a figure which will not concern the Liverpool hierachy because they believe they can acquire the required amount through the compensation attained from some of the Reds backroom staff leaving to join Rafa Benitez at Inter Milan.
The Mirror believes the Reds hope to have a manager appointed by the end of the month and Hodgson is now in pole position to take the role. He will be a BBC pundit in South Africa and may have to break off from his duties to begin negotiations with the Reds. Although Fulham are reluctant for their manager to leave, if Liverpool do not haggle over the compensation package and give them the required amount, they will have little choice in the matter. The paper also states that the other leading candidate for the job is Louis Van Gaal although the Dutchman would be difficult to prise away from Bayern Munich. Both the Guardian and the Daily Mail are reporting however that Kenny Dalglish may put his hat into the ring and withdraw himself from the selection panel to find a new manager. It’s certainly going to be an interesting few weeks.
